PS22 Chorus Joins Carrie Underwood On Stage!

On Saturday, December 1st, the PS22 Chorus of 2013 kids had the thrill of joining Carrie Underwood onstage at her concert at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey! After performing "So Small" in our very own auditorium this past May with our 2012 group, Carrie has obviously kept PS22 Chorus on her radar, as evidenced by this invitation, PS22's recent cameo appearance on her VH1 Behind The Music special, and her recent tweet showing love for the performance this year's chorus did (with former 2009 member Allie) of her song, "Blown Away!"  UPDATE: Check out the performance from Newark below in this beautifully filmed and edited video, kindly sent to us by Carrie Underwood's management!

The performance has gotten rave reviews from many popular entertainment media sources, including (among many others) JustJared.com and Z100's Elvis Duran And The Morning Show! Check out some amazing pictures of the kids from the performance and from soundcheck courtesy of our friend and photographer, Scott Vollweiler!

Merry Christmas!!

Truly the happiest day of the year for the PS22 Chorus is when we visit our loving senior community at Sunrise Assisted Living in Staten Island to share in love, joy, and music....  No better post for today to celebrate the holiday!   Merry Christmas to everyone and lots of love to our extended chorus family all over the world!!

We leave you with some more heartwarming pics from our very own Mrs. Panzella!

PS22 Chorus on ANDERSON LIVE Christmas Special!

Tomorrow, the PS22 Chorus of 2013 will be appearing on the nationally syndicated Anderson Live show! (Check your local listings!) The kids will be singing you into every commercial break throughout the one hour Christmas special! Check out this cool video of Anderson Cooper and co-host of the day, Gayle King, singing the praises of PS22!

And below are some great pics from our fun afternoon, courtesy of Ms. Kim! You can even see the kids meeting Bow Wow, who also happened to be in the studio, when he stopped in to our green room to show some love when he heard PS22 Chorus was in the house!

Winter Concert 2012

PS22 Chorus of 2013 gave one of its most memorable Winter Concerts in history with some stunning performances and much-needed good cheer! Among other phenomenal highlights, the concert included three 2013 debuts, including "Silent Night," "This Christmas," and the complete version of "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards!" Two former members, Allie (2009) and Kahlil (2012) showed up as well and reminded us just how fantastically talented they are! (As if we needed a reminder!!) Check out some amazing video highlights below, courtesy of Ms. Lisa!

And we leave you with some fabulous pics courtesy of Victor Breinberg!

PS22 Chorus Sings A Loving Tribute To Sandy Hook School

I am extremely proud of the maturity, empathy, and love displayed yesterday by the PS22 Chorus when the kids recorded this tribute to the children, teachers, and families affected by the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT. It was without a doubt the most difficult song for me and the kids to have to teach and learn respectively (for reasons that need not be explained), but in the end, I believe it was important and cathartic for all of us to do this. We hope it brings hope and inspiration to those who need it at this difficult time, and serves as a remembrance to all those who tragically lost their lives last week.

To hear the original version of the Sandy Hook School Song, click here

Joy to the World

We recorded this on my cell phone this morning right after it was taught to the kids. I was going to wait until our next rehearsal to rerecord this on our regular video camera, but after the tragic events at the Sandy Hook School in Connecticut today, I just watched and re-watched this video bawling my eyes out. The slightly melancholy arrangement combined with the joyful lyrics lent itself to a poignancy I never intended. But it brings me comfort and hope, whatever is possible after this soul-crushing, senseless act of violence. My hope is that it can do so for others. I am so lucky to work these special young people at PS22, the harbingers of hope, and am so grateful for them on this sad day...

More Holiday Cheer From PS22 Chorus of 2013!

Here are two beautiful holiday songs recorded at yesterday's rehearsal! The first proves that big things come in small packages -- it's a 30 second heartwarming a cappella rendition of the Christmas traditional "Deck The Halls." The second is a spirited version of "Chanukah, Oh Chanukah!" Check them out below!

On Top Of The World!

The PS22 Chorus kids get their hands on this incredible, uplifting song by Imagine Dragons and make the most of it! Watching this joyous performance should truly make you feel "On Top Of The World!" C.J.'s soulful delivery of the solo, and the ridiculously tight harmonies the chorus bring (LOVE that second bridge!) definitely makes this a worthy contender for the best so far from our 2013 group!

UPDATE:  Imagine Dragons shared the PS22 Chorus video of their song via their Facebook and Twitter pages, calling the cover "a BEAUTIFUL rendition" and sent "all these kids a big hug!"  Check out the screencap below!

On ABC News and Univision!

Here are two great PS22 Chorus news features that appeared this week on ABC News and Univision 41, respectively, bringing attention to our need for funds for our upcoming trip to the inauguration! Check out the ABC interview below and you can click here to see the Spanish interview on Univision!

PS22's YouTube Channel Hits 50 Million Views!

Who would have guessed when the first PS22 video appeared on YouTube back in 2006, that an elementary school chorus could become a bona fide "internet sensation" AND maintain that celebrated status for over five years?! Well today, the group reached another milestone -- the PS22 Chorus YouTube channel has surpassed fifty million views of its videos!!

We hope every child who has ever been part of the chorus throughout the years is exceptionally proud to have had the opportunity to bring joy and inspiration to such a mind-blowing number of people, simply through a love of and dedication to music-making! Super huge thanks to Perez Hilton who first helped the group reach a mass audience (and to this day continues to support the program and our students), and to all of you who have been with us throughout the years....   It has meant so much to us and changed so many lives here at PS22 -- we are beyond grateful.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The PS22 Chorus of 2013 ushers in the holiday season with this beautiful version of the Christmas song, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" written by Gloria Shayne and (appropriately named) Noël Regney. We at PS22 wish all of our friends, family, and supporters the happiest of holidays!!

PS22 Chorus At Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Here are the kids of the PS22 Chorus of 2013 having the time of their lives at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! You can see them getting love from The Wanted (whose song "Chasing The Sun" the chorus recently covered!) who were in the float directly behind us, and an amazing crowd that filled the streets of New York like none of us have ever seen!! The kids did an amazing performance of "Home" by Phillip Phillips to put the finishing touch on an such a wonderful day! We wish all of our supporters an equally wonderful Thanksgiving!! Thanks to you guys for all the love throughout the years....

More thanks go to everyone at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for having the PS22 Chorus represent Staten Island at today's parade! Special thanks to Wesley Watling, Amy Kule, and Sara Flores! Also thanks to the wonderful staff members at PS22 that came along and helped make this experience possible!  Here are some more wonderful pics provided by Mrs. Panzella and Mrs. Johnson....

A PS22 Chorus Tribute To Amy Winehouse

After Amy Winehouse passed away, I knew immediately that this was a song the PS22 Chorus was going to cover, though admittedly wasn't quite sure how we were going to pull this off. I taught the chorus of the song to soloist Alicea at our very first rehearsal in September, as we embarked upon our first performance of the year, "Titanium." When she was instantly able to pick up the tricky melody, I knew this was going to be something special.... She and the chorus did not let me down! This is our tribute to truly one of the most talented vocalists of our generation. With that in mind, it seemed fitting to change the lyric from "Ava was the morning" to "Amy was the morning" for our rendition. So sad that her illness took Amy away from us before her time, as she clearly had so much more to bring. Here we honor that devastating loss with a song she co-wrote with Stefan Skarbek called "October Song." Rest in peace, Amy Winehouse....

A NYCE Day for PS22 Chorus!

pic by BenHider.com

To help mark the coming of the holiday season, three of our PS22 Chorus members helped ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street this morning with the help of Santa and Amy Kule, the executive producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, at which the entire chorus will be singing tomorrow morning! Choristers Aaron, Vanecia, and Kelvin all had a blast being part of an amazing historic tradition, and you can see the video of the kids doing the honors below!

Also check out more fantastic pics, courtesy of BenHider.com!

Phillip Phillips Joins PS22 Chorus!

On Thursday, American Idol winner Phillip Phillips joined forces with the PS22 Chorus of 2013 for an amazing half hour concert that streamed online on Stageit.com! Our mutual goal was to raise as much money as we could for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and all proceeds from ticket-buyers were donated to The Red Cross & The Siller Foundation! We are still waiting for the final tally of how much was raised but we're proud to announce it was a substantial amount of money that was raised! The concert was amazing, and so was the rehearsal before the fact! Phillip was in awe of the kids, and we all certainly were of him as well. He was truly one of the most fun and gracious guests we've ever had the pleasure of making music with! You can check out the good vibes and some great tunes below!

In addition to raising money for a great cause the concert has gotten rave reviews from the online community and major entertainment media! The Hollywood Reporter, Inside Edition, and many more major entertainment news media covered the event!  Below you can see the livestream in its entirety (in lo-fi with some minor glitches) and the Fox5 News piece that aired later on that evening below!

Big thanks to Phillip Phillips, his management, and Stageit.com for all doing their part in helping our kids have this amazing opportunity to give back to the community after Sandy's devastating blow. Also thanks go to Scott Vollweiler for his beautiful pics and Ms. Lisa for her incredible job filming the event! We leave you with some more of Scott's great pics below!